What are Urbano Cairo’s plans on Mediaset?
What he says, what he does and what makes Urbano Cairo write. The letter from analyst Francis Walsingham
Dear Director,
what are you doing?, do you throw the stone and hide your hand a little?
I'm referring to your tweet this morning which lists some recent antics of the usually cautious Urbano Cairo, publisher with RCS and La7.
In recent weeks, Cairo has suspended the transmission Non è l'arena by Massimo Giletti on La7. The prevailing journalistic interpretations – coincidentally coinciding with those of Cairo – were: the broadcast cost a lot, even compared to advertising revenues declining over time. Chapter closed. It is a pity that the Cairo decision was almost concomitant with an investigation by the magistrates into the alleged or phantom photos that the well-known gentleman of yesteryear Salvatore Baiardo, the de facto spokesman of the Graviano brothers, has been talking about and gossiping about for some time, who I believe may have had some little problem with justice; photos that would portray Silvio Berlusconi with Graviano and that would have journalistically gripped Giletti.
Last Monday, as you noticed in your tweet, the director of the La7 news, Enrico Mentana, practically sewed a special one on the story of Berlusconi for his editor Cairo: Cairo was in fact the only guest on the broadcast, which was trumpeted several times during the hours precedents on the same TV; the only one because in the studio there was also a depressed Paolo Mieli, present there only to reveal a couple of decades late (but he, as we know, is now a historian) that the scoop of the notice to Berlusconi published from the Corriere mielist della sera on the day in which the former Prime Minister, Berlusconi, presided over the G7 in Naples, he was telephoned by the Milanese magistrates, the same ones who – poffarbacco, how strange – Mieli regrets that they never heard from him to find out how did he get that news. I swear that essentially he said exactly like this: that is, Mieli thinks that viewers are evidently baluba to put up with without sneering or ranting on the thoughtful historical-journalistic dissertations dispensed in good manners.
And today the Corriere della Sera – no longer directed by Mieli but by Luciano Fontana, known for giving very little space to the publisher's corporate and personal initiatives – places a hot-hot news photo that dates back to a few days ago, i.e. to 1991… just to recall the professional and personal relations between Cairo and Berlusconi.
Now I don't know if your tweet implies a conclusion, but I see from some comments and from how many whispers have been whispered about Cairo's political aspirations for years that all these episodes can add grist to the thesis of a political future for the publisher of RCS and A7.
I take the liberty of doubting this scenario, given what is being said here in Milan in financial and industrial circles that I have been hanging around for some time after having dabbled for decades between intelligence and geopolitics between London and Washington.
It will be because the Gedi group is a competitor on paper of the RCS group in Cairo, it will be for other reasons, the fact is that Repubblica , after Berlusconi's death, wrote : "The other solution for Mediaset, which has been rumored in recent weeks, concerns the possibility that Urbano Cairo, publisher of RCS and La7 and first assistant to Berlusconi, is trying to put together a consortium to take over Mediaset. It would be an all-Italian solution but which would encounter regulatory obstacles (it would exceed 20% of the Sic) and probably also political ones. But for even one of these things to happen, the Berlusconi children need to declare themselves sellers, and at the moment the declarations are of the opposite sign ".
Coincidentally, on 10 May the site directed by Roberto D'Agostino wrote : “ Dagospia has in fact discovered that an Italian consortium is taking shape to take over the empire of Cologno Monzese from the Berlusconi. The transfer of the family tele-empire has long divided the heirs of Cav. The three children he had with Veronica Lario, Eleonora, Barbara and Luigi, are in favor of the sale. Pier Silvio, who is also the company's managing director, is against it. Marina, on the other hand, safe in her Mondadori fort, hesitates". "As regards Fininvest and the Berlusconi family, the news is completely groundless", was the quick and dry reply of Fininvest and the Berlusconi family.
The reply of the person directly concerned is less dry and less prompt. On 15 May, the correspondent from Striscia la Notizia took the opportunity to ask Cairo for a comment on the indiscretion of Dagospia , according to which Urbano Cairo would be the head of a consortium aiming to control Mediaset. The entrepreneur replies : “It's a pure invention. I was born in Mediaset, I would like very much, but it's difficult”.
“I would like to”, ok all clear…
So what could be better done thanks to his TVs and his newspapers to refresh the memory of the Berlusconi family and the whole nation on his managerial beginnings as Berlusconi's assistant? A perfect profile as a professional, manager and entrepreneur to become – who knows, maybe – the main shareholder of Mediaset, right?
Best regards
Francis Walsingham
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/mediaset-urbano-cairo/ on Wed, 14 Jun 2023 10:19:43 +0000.